I teach classes on doing literature searches and how to filter out bad information compared to good information on the web. There are a lot of great intellectual resources out there such as the national library of medicine and pubmed (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/ & http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/). I warn people against relying too much on resources such as Wikipedia. I am also always looking for resources that are reputable to help give people different insights.
I was curious to find an informational aspect to the website on the Mayo Clinic site. So I poked around it for a while and was disappointed. It was not so much that it lacked depth enough, because it was very incomplete. Or that it catered to non technical people, which is fine, but importantly it was down right wrong. So wrong on some points that I emailed them to point out their errors.
Their site incorrectly stated that creatine was synonymous with beta guanidinopropionic acid (GPA). I have previously blogged that nutritional supplements that contain GPA should not be taken (http://www.josephfclark.com/blog/?p=129) and tried to advise the Mayo Clinic of this. My email conversation with the information people at May is reproduced below without their permission.
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From: JOSEPH.CLARK@UC.EDU
Sent: Friday, April 15, 2011 9:30 PM
To: info@mayo.edu
Subject: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/creatine/NS_patient-creatine/DSECTION=synonyms
Question or Comment: Beta-GPA is not creatine. You list several molecules here that are not creatine. Plus the info page says that creatine is stored in the muscle. That is not true it is used in muscle, not stored. There are multiple factual problems with the write up on creatine.
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My message is short and does not offer a fix. But I did call attention to their mistakes. I was hoping that a fairly reputable institution like the Mayo Clinic might want to check their facts before putting things out there. Quite frankly if someone took GPA thinking it was creatine it could be a problem for them as discussed in my blog referenced above. To give Mayo credit, they responded very quickly with the following.
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Dear Joseph; Thank you for your e-mail. We value your feedback and appreciate you taking the time to share your comments with us. The information found in our drug guide is from the United States Pharmacopeia, which we license from Micromedex, Inc. The information contained in the Micromedex products is intended as an educational aid only. It is not intended as medical advice for individual conditions or treatment. It is not a substitute for a medical exam, nor does it replace the need for services provided by medical professionals. Talk to your doctor or pharmacist before taking any prescription or over-the-counter drugs (including any herbal medicines or supplements) or following any treatment or regimen. Only your doctor or pharmacist can provide you with advice on what is safe and effective for you. The use of the Micromedex products is at your sole risk. These products are provided “AS IS” and “as available” for use, without warranties of any kind, either express or implied. Micromedex makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, reliability, timeliness, usefulness or completeness of any of the information contained in the products. Additionally, MICROMEDEX MAKES NO REPRESENTATION OR WARRANTIES AS TO THE OPINIONS OR OTHER SERVICE DATA YOU MAY ACCESS, DOWNLOAD OR USE AS A RESULT OF USE OF THE MICROMEDEX PRODUCTS. ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE OR USE ARE HEREBY EXCLUDED. Micromedex does not assume any responsibility or risk for your use of the Micromedex products.
Sincerely,
Mayo Clinic Online Services
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So their response tells me two things: First they do not care if the put out incorrect information and only bother with a form letter response, suggesting this may happen a lot. Second, they are so disinterested in putting out correct information that they license some cheap resource and stamp their name on it (Micromedex products). I hope thier disclaimer makes them feel better because it will not help people using their site’s information.
My goal with this blog is not to slam Mayo or Micromedex but to remind people, and my students, that what is out on the web needs to be examined carefully and often can be dangerously inadequate. Regarding the Mayo Clinic apparently not caring how wrong their information is, that is just sad.
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Dr. Clark,
We’re sorry to hear that you were disappointed in your recent experience with our health information website, MayoClinic.com, and the response you received from one of our customer service representatives. Unfortunately, the representative incorrectly stated that the database that contains supplement information is licensed from Micromedex. We do license a drug database from Micromedex, but the information that you are questioning is from a database that we license from Natural Standard. These two databases are the only two sections of content on MayoClinic.com that are licensed from external parties.
You assert that two statements on our website are inaccurate pertaining to creatine and GPA. We’ve contacted Natural Standard and they stand by the accuracy of the information as presented. We have reviewed the questions from original research and are addressing the issue with Natural Standard who has been our trusted content provider. Mayo Clinic takes seriously assertions of erroneous or unclear information, and wants to make these points known to your readers.
We appreciate your feedback and the opportunity to evaluate not only our customer service response, but also our editorial content development standards.
Best regards,
Roger Harms, M.D., Medical Director of Content, MayoClinic.com
April 25, 2011 @ 1:59 pm
Thank you so much for responding Dr. Roger Harms. Let me help you with your investigation concerning original research. GPA is guanidino propionic acid. It is an analogue of creatine. GPA and creatine are not synonyms, they are different words for different molecules. If people read your information and conclude that GPA is creatine and eat GPA, they are not getting creatine, plus GPA leads to heart failure. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1138144/?tool=pubmed.
Your synonym list actually lists more than one creatine analogue.
April 26, 2011 @ 2:57 pm
If you think they’re wrong on creatine, you should look at the advice they give Type II diabetics…
It’s the same advice pharmaceutical companies give diabetics… All research shows a low-carb ketogenic diet that’s complete in essential nutrients will give the best results in glycemic control, weight-loss, cholesterol ratio and triglycerides, but mayoclinic.com states the complete opposite, and locks comments when people post otherwise.
August 26, 2012 @ 5:47 pm